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Post by nitrofa340 on Mar 6, 2009 9:16:01 GMT -6
Sticks, the '76 Magnums also used a cleated track. As a general statement, cleated tracks ARE faster then rubber, especially when you are comparing old rubber track technology/construction vs a cleated track design. Are cleated tracks safe? I run 'em. But that is my personal choice. I would never recommend that you put a cleated track under your 11 year old sons butt and let him radar run the sled at 85 mph. THAT is an accident waiting to happen. For a 500ft drag race,....I feel they are reasonably safe on the smaller 340 cc sleds if the track/drivers are constantly checked/maintained.
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Post by Sticks on Mar 6, 2009 21:10:46 GMT -6
Dale, I couldn't agree more! except, I think he plans on a little more than 85
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Post by Joe Marshall on Mar 7, 2009 9:21:14 GMT -6
So Mom dug up some more old racing photos of the final few years we raced. Here we were at out favorite testing area. We spent more time here than we did are the races. Wait is that a MotoSki super sonic getting left at the line? Yup, Those things have a monster top end! Only got beat by one. That guy won the Gov. Cup in 87 and passed me with 2 feet left. He had about 10 mph more top end. After the race he came over and said, " That is the fastest God Da&% Mercury I have ever seen. Did you hit the brakes at the finish?" HAHA no brakes my man you just went around me with 2 feet to go. i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19/RuppstersRides/World%20Series%20F-A/011_22.jpg[/IMG]these are from the 86 world series or the 87 gov. cup in Wisconsin. Some of these photos were of the merc in AA. Some of the local races we did. Not always on ice and one time without snow. What a mess that was. Sorry Mercury you should of stayed in C stock with your 440 to beat up on the rupp 340. Next? See the officals trying to figure out how to get us thrown out. And then they throw a 650 at the merc 440 l/c. Same result. There was only one 650 at that time that could whip us and that was a Childs built 650 Indy. Man that was a fast sled. Not stock but fast! And the money shot! These photos are from the 87 World Series that the officals did throw us out of. Lookin Good! AA stock, don't worry we got by the yamie. The only other Merc was Norman Ball. Seems the teacher got schooled by the student. I don't think he ever got any closer than 5 lengths. Althought he did have some wild mod sleds. Is that a MotoSki super sonic getting left at the line? Yup, but those things had monster top end. At the 87 Gov. Cup we got beat in the last 2 feet by one of these. The guy came over after the race and said, "That is the fastest God D&$& merc I have ever seen. Did you hit the brake at the end?" HAHA no brakes my man you just drove around me in the last 2 feet.
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Post by rupprally on Mar 7, 2009 13:54:28 GMT -6
Really neat story, great pictures.
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Post by bankRUPPt on Mar 7, 2009 17:55:31 GMT -6
It's cool to have all those pictures. I personally like the Moto-Ski pix!
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Post by redleader on Mar 8, 2009 10:44:01 GMT -6
Joe, First I want to say thank you. Secondly, this entry is the most (looking for words) exciting entry that I have personally read on this board or any other in many many years. You should be reconized in some way for all your hard work and dedication to the sport of snowmobile racing and your dedication to the Rupp brand. Heres a hint, make it to Rupp fest this July and I will see that happens! Thank you again. Greg.
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Post by Joe Marshall on Mar 8, 2009 17:58:06 GMT -6
Redleader,
Thank You for your kind words. This post has been fun and brings back great memories of Pops and me just driving around racing the sleds and having a great time doing it. It never seemed like work at the time just good times spent with Pops and the crew. We have had our time in the sun running the Rupp and are much appreciative of the opportunities and experiences. I think the torch has been passed along to the others like Dale and Bill who are keeping the Rupps running at the front.
As for July we are hoping to make it. I spent two years of my schooling in Michigan and it will be interesting to see it again. We are planning on bringing the F/A if it is ready. No grass dragging, sorry Dale. We will just be spectators from the sidelines and bench race in the evening.
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Post by redleader on Mar 10, 2009 19:24:05 GMT -6
Joe,
It would be a real honor to have you and your father as our guests that weekend. As for inventoring those parts, just load em up and we will go over them when you get here. Sure hope you can make it.
Greg
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Post by RuppChukk on Mar 11, 2009 15:43:57 GMT -6
WOW , neat story & neat pix, Thanks for sharing .I'll stay tuned for more..
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Post by Joe Marshall on Mar 11, 2009 18:18:23 GMT -6
Progress is being made! Pops has been working like a squirrel harvesting nuts for the winter. The latest focus has been on getting the foot rest installed with the slide lubrication hoses as we ran it in the 80's. Here is a top image of the motor plate set in place with the dual pumps. If I remember the pump on the right is the fuel and the left is for the slide lube if you are sitting on the sled. From another angle. The bottle was mounted to the side of the foot rest on the left side. I believe that the bottle was from a 1984 Ford Escort EXP washer fluid reservoir. The on/off valve was on the bottom of the reservoir so when we got staged on the line I would bring up the RPM to engagement which was 4500 until 1986 or 1987 when it went to 5000. While I was focused on this Pops would flip the valve on and then we were ready for launch! I have to a come clean on one thing. Whenever we raced a Yamaha SRX we noticed that they all seemed to brake torque the hell out of those things otherwise they were well below any power band on take off. This was really noticeable when the engagement rule was 4500. So at the local races Pops instructed me to take all the time I needed before I nodded to the starter that I was ready. We also made sure that the Yamaha was staged before us so they would have to brake torque that thing until we gave the nod to the official. You should of heard these Yamies squealing the belts with belt smoke rolling out of the hood. The entire goal was for them to overheat their belt and clutch and guess what it works! This little strategy is worth a few lengths. So all you Rupp racers feel free to use it. I guess we helped to keep the belt companies in the black. Here is a photo showing the hose routing on the right side And a photo of the routing on the left side OK, now we are ready for another Homer Simpson moment, MMMM Beer! Pops did a pressure test and the seals are still ok. Untouched for 20+ years, the Mill! We have had a lot of interest in this motor. Guess what? It's bare bone stock! Hell, it even has a fin broke off of the right side jug. If I told you what the inside of the bottom end looked like when we first built this up in the early 80's you would not believe that it would go on to be a top 5 world series sled. This is no lie. The inside of the bottom end was pitted really bad from sitting in that barn yard. The surface looked like a teenager's face with really bad acne. What where we to do? Rupp went under and on the second bottom end from the other sled someone before us took a sawzall and cut the fins out of the top of the case along side the connecting rods. NO SH*T! It was the hack job of all hack jobs. So believe me when I say if you are going to run stock, set the motor to factory specs and leave it alone. Spend all your time on the clutching that is where 98% of it is. The other 2% is the monkey pushing the throttle when the light turns green.
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Post by Ruppsforever on Mar 11, 2009 21:13:04 GMT -6
Man that is a great sled you have there. I bet this thing is bringing back so many awesome memories.
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Post by snikr on Mar 12, 2009 10:58:16 GMT -6
Nice photos and story so far. Can't wait to see it finished. You are lucky your Dad is still around to help you. I picked up a 72 Nitro to restore and my Dad was going to show me how he timed the motor. However he passed away this past January so I'm on my own. Keep up the good work.
Tom
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Post by Joe Marshall on Mar 13, 2009 8:37:04 GMT -6
Sorry about your loss Tom. We all have an expiration date so don't sit around putting things off for another day. Approach every day like its your last and have no regrets.
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Post by Joe Marshall on Mar 13, 2009 8:50:24 GMT -6
Well I think are getting close to having the underside done. Here is the NOS track we got from Bill Elvis Stull going in. As usual there was some cursing during installation. That NOS track was stiff! Now if we only had the 112 1" spikes to put in we would be ready for the ice. Now we are ready to put on the council and the engine in. We still have our engine placement formula so it will go back in right where it was 20 years ago. We had shims at the 4 bolt locations to get the engine aligned with the secondary clutch and have the proper distance between clutches for the belt length we were running.
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Post by Ruppsforever on Mar 13, 2009 10:19:29 GMT -6
Looking great Joe. Its just a matter of time now. You got away with 112 studs huh ?? Must be a really good pattern you guys figured out. I run 134 but I'm running a 112" track. I can't wait to see the end result !!
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Post by snikr on Mar 13, 2009 10:39:30 GMT -6
Thanks for the kind words Joe. Your F/A is looking great. Can't wait to see it finished. And you better put up a video when you take it out for it's first run!
Tom
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Post by racingelvis on Mar 18, 2009 8:05:07 GMT -6
excellent job joe, looks great!!!! Please give me a call a.s.a.p. thanks bill 715-592-4707
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Post by Joe Marshall on Apr 3, 2009 9:34:34 GMT -6
Check Back soon for an update on more progress. We had a slow down in production due to a need for parts but they are coming in and we will get back on it. ;D
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Post by Joe Marshall on Apr 3, 2009 17:20:01 GMT -6
So here we are back after a few weeks away. Pops was working the motor plate over on the polishing wheel but it wasn't cleaning up very well. All the years of chemical abuse has taken its toll. The plate was really pitted out. So Pop went over to the parts bin and dug around and found another volunteer. This one was in great shape can cleaned up really nice. So now that the motor plate was ready we were ready to drop the mill into the sled. Next we dug the primary clutch out from under the bench and unwrapped it. When we store our sleds we take the springs out of the clutches so that they don't fatigue over time. This is how it looked when we put it away 20 years ago. So how much is this clutching worth on evilbay? One of the most important accessories was also reinstalled. The snow flap. A must so guys know what they are getting beat by as your pulling away. We went ahead and mounted the skies knowing that they are going to have to come off when the glass is finished. Here is the F/A in its MOD trim. This photo made me remember that we ran a full MOD one year that was a F/A chassis with a full blown MOD 440 Kohler L/C strapped to it. Its coming back to me now. I recall running out in central Iowa somewhere, I think it was Backbone State Park on the lake. It was late and getting dark and we were in the finals of the open MOD class. We were up against a lay down slingshot triple cylinder jobbie. I remember the launch off the line with the cameras flashing, that was awesome! We got beat the first round, won the second and got beat in the 3rd. Man those were fun days.
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Post by snikr on Apr 3, 2009 17:28:38 GMT -6
Sweet Photos. Keep them coming.
Tom
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